CalTech (Texas)

Application

I applied online. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at CalTech (Texas) (San Angelo, TX) in April 2018.

Interview

At first, this company seems to be very transparent and down to earth.

As soon as your application is processed, you receive an email with a link to do a one-way video interview. This video interview was not challenging and just asked basic personality questions. A day after I completed the video interview, I received a call from their recruiter who was extremely kind and professional. This call consisted of more basic HR questions and we then scheduled a 1 on 1 interview with each other.

During the 1 on 1 interview, again the recruiter was professional and kind during the whole process. He was also even a bit casual during the interview which helped relieve some of the stress. This interview was mostly him talking about CalTech and what makes them a great company. There were some more personality and HR questions mixed in and felt more like a conversation than an interview. You are given a packet with all of the company's information including salary, benefits, job duties, and just about everything else you could ask about. Once this interview was completed, I was required to perform a drug test within the week before we could move forward.

Once I passed the drug test, the final interview was scheduled. This interview was with a panel consisting of some higher up managers of HR and the Desktop Support team. During this interview is where I ran into issues. These people while professional, were much less friendly. This was understandable since I was no longer talking to the recruiter, but still shifted the idea of the "open-door" policy I was told all of the managers and even the CEO have at this company a bit. One of the members of the panel did not speak clearly and was somewhat difficult to understand, while also seeming disinterested in the interview altogether with his attention focused more on his laptop rather than the interview. This process took a little over an hour and once I was finished I was thanked for my time and walked out the door being told I would receive their response within a week. I was confused at this point since I have read and heard from others that the final interview consists of an aptitude test along with shadowing a Tier 1 technician. The recruiter told me this interview would take 2 hours as well so I was expecting more from this interview.

I can understand not wanting a certain candidate for any reason they see fit, but the negative review comes from taking me through 4 interviews and a drug test, and not even performing the full final interview. I received an email a couple of business days later with a copy and paste rejection template from an email I had no previous contact with whereas every form of contact with the recruiting team before this had been a personal phone call from the recruiter himself.

I am sure this company is great to work for if you are offered a job, but their interview process seems flawed in some ways that leaves you feeling disrespected as both a applicant and as a person. From others I have talked to, 4 other people had been through all of these interviews with only one getting a job offer. I feel that there needs to be better job done filtering during the first 3 interviews, rather than making almost every applicant go through the whole process and even telling them they would be a great fit for their company, only to waste both your time along with theirs.

Interview Questions